Hall & Gallops Close Chatham Concert Season

By Susan Paynter

Wow.  Talk about a grand finale!  The April 5 Chatham Concert Series season finale, held at Emmanuel, was nothing short of an all-out love fest.

The concert-goers loved Ashley Hall’s charming engagement with the audience as she personally introduced each piece she played: relaying here a story from her own career, there a tale about the composer or a famous performer of the upcoming number.

More important, we were astounded by Hall’s virtuosity on the cornet.  Joe, who in his youth dabbled on the trumpet, kept whispering to me, “How does she do that?”

I couldn’t help but glance from time to time at a friend across the aisle who used to play brass in big bands.  He was mesmerized, smiling and shaking his head, and he leapt to his feet with applause after the final note before intermission.

But even those of us who’ve never blown a horn knew we were in the presence of something very special.  To say the applause was extended doesn’t do it justice: we were smitten!

Then there was Wayne Gallops on the piano.  What pizzazz.  His background in popular and classical music as well as jazz enabled him to match the temper and style of each piece of the varied program.  The two played wonderfully in concert and we were all astounded to hear this was their first performance together. 

Hall and Gallops showed their appreciation for each other in that way musicians do during an ovation.  You could tell it was anything but a de rigueur gesture.  They were genuinely delighted with one another.

And with us.  They say there’s nothing a musician values more than an appreciative audience and we certainly gave them that, to their obvious pleasure.

Hall selected a diverse program, designed to display the many moods and colors the cornet is capable of evoking and representing composers of the 19^th, 20^th, and 21^st centuries from the U.S., the U.K, and Europe.

Each piece had its charm, but if I had to bet on the audience favorites I’d put my money on Jules Levy’s “Grand Russian Fantasia” and Jean-Baptiste Arban’s variations on “Le Carnaval de Venise.”  Both were written to show what the cornet is capable of doing and it was thrilling to hear what that instrument, on the lips and in the hands of a master like Hall, can do.